| City: | London, UK |
| Venue: | Wembley Arena |
| Date: | December 8, 1980 |
| Setlist: | Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Play The Game, Mustapha, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, Need Your Loving Tonight, Save Me, Now I'm Here, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here (reprise), Fat Bottomed Girls, Love Of My Life, Keep Yourself Alive, drum/guitar solos, Battle Theme, Flash, The Hero, Brighton Rock (ending), Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, Another One Bites The Dust, Sheer Heart Attack, Tie Your Mother Down, God Save The Queen |
 
 
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Queen are a force to be reckoned with by this point in the tour, and this show in particular is such an excellent one on all levels. Musically they are spot on, and Freddie's voice is nothing short of perfect, hitting virtually every note he wants to. Their vocal harmonies are tight, with Play The Game being a notable mention. Freddie notes that it's "Fucking freezing in this auditorium" before Mustapha. "Especially for all those people in the back. But we'll get your asses on fire in a minute, don't worry." Before Love Of My Life, Brian mentions the temperature too, however a wee bit more diplomatically than Freddie as per usual. "Well, I hope you're all warming up a little by now. It feels like it." Freddie's delivery of Killer Queen on this tour is almost spoken at times during the verses. On this night he says "Paris" in a French accent. He was probably tiring of the song after playing it every night since 1974. It would be dropped for many shows in 1981. Mercury's delivery of Save Me is gorgeous, along with Brian's piano work - definitely one of the best ever live versions of the ballad off The Game. Before Fat Bottomed Girls, Freddie contemplates the next song in the setlist, and tells himself, "We're gonna do that one, yes," and then shouts, "You shut up! You keep out of this!" After a brief pause, he continues. "We're gonna do as he says, by the way. This is a dirty little number, and we've uh..." He gets distracted again and says, "You shut up as well. What is this!? You wanna come up and sing it? C'mon!" Instead of following through with his invitation, he continues with his usual style of intro of the song, "It's all about tits and bums as you know. It's called Fat Bottomed Girls." He then sings a very aggressive version of the rocker, even delivering the final "rockin' world go 'round" like the record version. There are a couple great adlibs from Freddie. He shouts, "Ride on cowboy, any way you like, on your bike" during Fat Bottomed Girls, and later he mimics the Flash Gordon movie during Flash: "Oh Flash, I love you, I love you, I love you!" About two and a half minutes into Brian's guitar solo, his choice of notes and rhythms in his ascending and descending runs is exquisite, sounding almost classical. A bit later, he fiddles with his delay unit to get the right timing before launching into the Battle Theme. The Flash Gordon soundtrack is released today, which means their audiences at earlier shows on this European tour didn't know Battle Theme and The Hero when they had been performed (Flash had already been released as a single in November). A synthesizer is used for the first time on stage tonight, by Brian on Flash. He plays piano for most of the song, but switches to the synth in a couple spots. Finally, before "Just a man," he leaves the keyboards and finishes the song on guitar. They would have a similar arrangement for Who Wants To Live Forever in 1986. Like two nights ago, Queen swap the encores. Freddie and Roger's voices blend perfectly in the second verse of Sheer Heart Attack. At the end of the show, after thanking the audience, Freddie adds, "Hey, we can all go home now and get fucked!" Queen dropped Need Your Loving Tonight from the setlist after this show for some reason. It would be played now and again in 1981, usually alternating nights with Rock It. The first three pictures were taken by Martin de Jong and the last two were submitted by Nareg Mikaelian. The second set was taken by David King and submitted by Mark Alexander. |
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| Recording length: | 106 minutes (2 LP, complete) |
| Quality: | A- |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Flash Alive" LP |
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| Track listing: | Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Play The Game, Mustapha, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, Need Your Loving Tonight, Save Me, Now I'm Here, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here (reprise), Fat Bottomed Girls, Love Of My Life, Keep Yourself Alive, drum/guitar solos, Battle Theme, Flash, The Hero, Brighton Rock (ending), Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, Another One Bites The Dust, Sheer Heart Attack, Tie Your Mother Down, God Save The Queen |
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This 1981 bootleg LP uses a great sounding audience tape, although it's a bit distant, with John Deacon being a bit buried in the mix. A fan's take on the work of this taper: "Wembley Arena is not renowned for its acoustics (it's bloody awful) so this guy was obviously well positioned and did a great job." |
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| Recording length: | 110 minutes (2 CD, complete) |
| Quality: | A- |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Standing On The Arena" (Gypsy Eye) silvers |
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| Track listing: | Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Play The Game, Mustapha, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, Need Your Loving Tonight, Save Me, Now I'm Here, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here (reprise), Fat Bottomed Girls, Love Of My Life, Keep Yourself Alive, drum/guitar solos, Battle Theme, Flash, The Hero, Brighton Rock (ending), Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, Another One Bites The Dust, Sheer Heart Attack, Tie Your Mother Down, God Save The Queen |
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This is possibly one tape generation worse than the copy used for the bootleg LP. It is a few minutes longer (there is a bit more tape before the show, it has the cheering after Champions, and it runs a tad slower). Compared to the LP, the EQ focuses more on the mid range here. Here's a link to the always-reliable GS review: http://www.collectorsmusicreviews.com |
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| Recording length: | 2 CD |
| Quality: | ? |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Perfume Came Naturally From Wembley" (Godfather) silvers |
 
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| Track listing: | Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Play The Game, Mustapha, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, Need Your Loving Tonight, Save Me, Now I'm Here, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here (reprise), Fat Bottomed Girls, Love Of My Life, Keep Yourself Alive, drum/guitar solos, Battle Theme, Flash, The Hero, Brighton Rock (ending), Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, Another One Bites The Dust, Sheer Heart Attack, Tie Your Mother Down, God Save The Queen |
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Godfather Records released this bootleg in early 2011. |
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| Recording length: | 109 minutes (2 CD, complete) |
| Quality: | A- |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Wembley Arena 1980 1st Night" (Wardour) silvers |
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| Track listing: | Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Play The Game, Mustapha, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, Need Your Loving Tonight, Save Me, Now I'm Here, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here (reprise), Fat Bottomed Girls, Love Of My Life, Keep Yourself Alive, drum/guitar solos, Battle Theme, Flash, The Hero, Brighton Rock (ending), Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, Another One Bites The Dust, Sheer Heart Attack, Tie Your Mother Down, God Save The Queen |
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Wardour released what they claim is a transfer of the audience master in 2018, but it is simply an EQ'd version of one of the existing copies. |
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| Recording length: | 110 minutes (2 CD, complete) |
| Quality: | A- |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Wembley Arena 1980 1st Night Legendary Master Tapes" (Wardour) silvers |
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| Track listing: | Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Play The Game, Mustapha, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, Need Your Loving Tonight, Save Me, Now I'm Here, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here (reprise), Fat Bottomed Girls, Love Of My Life, Keep Yourself Alive, drum/guitar solos, Battle Theme, Flash, The Hero, Brighton Rock (ending), Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, Another One Bites The Dust, Sheer Heart Attack, Tie Your Mother Down, God Save The Queen |
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Wardour released what they advertised as the genuine master tape in 2020, and there is little reason to doubt it. On this copy there are extra bits of tape around the tape flips, and it is likely a tape generation or two better than previous copies. In this quality it ranks amongst the best audience tapes of the year, but even the master has its limitations as the room itself was so boomy. |
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